There are in existence a number of pitchers with detachable chiller device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,567 issued to Anderson discloses a chiller device for a pitcher which holds a beverage. The chiller comprises a sealed container with a freezable coolant, and a structure for maintaining the sealed container within the body of the pitcher. A major disadvantage associated with this prior art chiller device is that the open top end of the pitcher is not covered. The chilling effect of the chiller device will therefore be compromised as the beverage held by the pitcher is exposed to the outside environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,274 issued to Baillie discloses a container for cooling and stirring a beverage. The container includes a pitcher for receiving the beverage and a lid detachably coupled to a top end of the pitcher. A cooling cylinder assembly for receiving ice cubes is mounted to a bottom surface of the lid and extends into contact with the beverage, thus cooling the beverage in the container. A shortcoming associated with this prior art container is that once the ice cubes have melted into liquid water, the water has to be poured out from the cooling cylinder assembly, and new ice cubes introduced into the cooling cylinder assembly. Such is a cumbersome operation.
Other prior art beverage containers include China Patent for Utility Model Nos. ZL 92217483.0 published under No. CN 2128715Y, ZL 97221836.X published under No. CN 2303541Y and ZL 95246684.8 published under No. CN 2256686Y.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage container with a cooling member in which the aforesaid shortcomings are mitigated, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the public.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of using such a beverage container.